Skiathos

Skiathos is the most accessible of the Sporades islands, connected to the mainland by a 90-minute ferry from Volos. Despite measuring just 49 square kilometres, it packs over 60 beaches along its coastline — the south-facing strands offering calm turquoise water and organised beach bars, while the wilder north coast harbours boat-access coves like Lalaria, the island’s crown jewel. Lalaria’s perfectly rounded white pebbles (from which it takes its name) sit beneath vertical white cliffs and a natural stone arch, with Blue Cave and Dark Cave excursions included in most boat trips. The golden pine-fringed Koukounaries beach, backed by the protected Stone Pine forest and Lake Strofilia wetland, is regularly listed among Greece’s finest. Skiathos Town is the island’s sole settlement — a pretty waterfront of whitewashed houses, tavernas, and cobbled lanes climbing from the old harbour past the Bourtzi fortress peninsula. The Monastery of Evangelistria, hidden in the pine forest above town, is where the first Greek national flag was raised in 1807.